THIS GENERATIONER

Interesting Cover Art from artists on Bandcamp Yellowstraps - Moodprint landscapes EP remix Wynter Gordon - Sanguine Mwewe- From the Legacy Project Tim Hopkins - Seven Subterranean Wavelength - A Johannesburg Experimental Beat Compilation The Roots - And Then You Shoot Your Cousin Jake Milner - Get Up Sahel Sounds - Boomarm Nation Got Reggae? - Got Reggae Riddim Gabriel Teodros - Children of the Dragon

Friday May 9, 2014 Of Homosexuality in Africa – There’s No Big Finish to this Story A friend who takes Media and Communication Technology offered this article for this week’s blog post. Enjoy. Many thanks Christine! “It was some misguided family function - family here used in the loosest terms possible - that I had no interest or any business attending, but my father's particular brand of requisition 'you don't have to do this if you don't want to, but you will do it because it is me who's asking you to', had me saying 'ok' even without thinking about it twice. And I’m glad I did. I have this relative who is usually kind enough to spare me the small talk and vacant interaction that is painfully persistent at these get togethers and due to this simple courtesy he offers me I can proudly say he's related to me. But it's not because of his social skills that I am highly appreciative of that I want to talk about him, it's a dif...

Africa’s Transformative Narrative Part 2: Social Media  “I think the Internet is absolutely extraordinary. It's very, very useful and I think one of the things we've got to do is make sure that the African continent gets on to that information super highway. We've got to access this modern technology. I've been saying, for instance, if you put in this infrastructure, you're able then to deliver tele-medicine to a village. In reality, this technology is most useful for poor countries” -- Thabo Mbeki, ex-President of South Africa in a Conversation with BBC News Online Users in 2000 Back in 2011 when Facebook had just 25 million users in Africa, socialbakers.com (Facebook’s analysis site) identified Africa as Facebook’s fastest growing market already. Currently, the social media company has close to 52 million users in the whole continent. This number keeps growing daily as more and more people in the continent move up the income ladder and are able to buy bo...

Wednesday May 7, 2014 Reflecting on Technology: Jay Cousins So today I have spent quite a lot of time reading a comprehensive feature on Technology in Africa- Technology in Africa, 2014 Digest By Tefo Mohapi just in a bid to have as much background information about technology in Africa as I prepare the second part of my Africa’s Transformative Narrative pieces. The whole publication is a compilation of contributions from a host of technology, development, healthcare, innovation, peace building and accounting experts who have accomplished a lot in the technology scene in Africa and globally. It goes a long way in explaining the disconnects and linkages between technology and other similar innovations in the continent and prescribes how all actors including the government, the public, the private sector and external actors can make technology more beneficial and affordable for the perceived poor people of Africa. A graphic designer's impression of  Africa  made f...

Sunday May 4, 2014 Africa’s Transformative Narrative Part 1: Music, Art and Culture Over the past one decade, Africa as an entity on the global stage has transformed a lot. The continent has had things working for it in various areas and things falling apart in other disciplines. Generally though, Africa has been experiencing positive transformative change. Being the second largest continent in the world with a total of 54 countries that hold a tenth of the total world population with close to one thousand indigenous languages and a substantive variance of cultures, it is a mystery how currently Africa is almost speaking in one language with the same message – that of positive transformation across social, economic and political spheres. This process of beneficial change and developmental progression has led to what is being referred to currently as Africa’s transformative narrative. And so it would be very interesting to dive in deep into this pool of information, stories...